When to Go to Immediate Care vs. When to Get Primary Care

If it seems like a new imme­di­ate care cen­ter pops up every day, don’t wor­ry – you’re not imag­in­ing things. Imme­di­ate care cen­ters (also called urgent care cen­ters) have been around since the 1970s, but they’ve boomed in recent years. The num­ber of cen­ters has dou­bled in the last decade, and patient vol­ume has increased by more than 60% since 2019.

Imme­di­ate care can be a life­saver when you’re sick or injured and don’t need emer­gency care, but don’t want to wait for an appoint­ment with your pri­ma­ry care provider (PCP). With evening and week­end hours, they are con­ve­nient if you can’t afford to take time off work or school.

At the same time, there are occa­sions when it’s bet­ter to see your PCP, even if it means wait­ing a bit longer for an appointment.

Not sure where to go? Ask your­self these questions:

Why Do I Need to See a Provider?

If you’re cur­rent­ly sick, you can go to either your PCP or an imme­di­ate care cen­ter. But there are cer­tain ser­vices that are best left to your PCP.

Am I Hav­ing a Med­ical Emergency?

Before head­ing to an imme­di­ate care cen­ter, make sure that you don’t need emer­gency care, instead.

Choose imme­di­ate care for:

• Com­mon ill­ness­es and symp­toms, such as cough, flu, cold, sore throat, ear infec­tions, and sinus infections
• Diges­tive issues, includ­ing vom­it­ing, diar­rhea, and mild to mod­er­ate abdom­i­nal pain
• Mild asth­ma attacks, breath­ing dif­fi­cul­ties, and bronchitis
• Minor burns, skin infec­tions, rash­es, and insect or pet bites
• Minor injuries (e.g., sprains, strains, bro­ken bones that are not pro­trud­ing through your body, or cuts that may require stitch­es) that do not involve severe bleeding
• Test­ing for the flu, RSV, and COVID-19
• Uri­nary tract infec­tions, non-life-threat­en­ing aller­gic reac­tions, and mild dehydration

Also read: Know­ing Where to Go for Care: The South Bend Clin­ic Imme­di­ate Care Centers

Get emer­gency care right away for:

• Ana­phy­lax­is (a life-threat­en­ing aller­gic reaction)
• Back or neck injuries that cause an inabil­i­ty to move your head or neck, loss of blad­der or bow­el con­trol, or dif­fi­cul­ty standing
• Bro­ken bones that poke out through your skin
• Chest pain or pressure
• Head injuries
• Injuries from a severe car acci­dent or gunshot
• Seizures
• Severe abdom­i­nal pain
• Severe or uncon­trolled bleeding
• Sud­den paral­y­sis, weak­ness, or severe headache
• Symp­toms of shock (pale and clam­my skin, gray or blue lips or fin­ger­nails, dazed or semi­con­scious appearance)

Also read: When to Go to Imme­di­ate Care vs. the Emer­gency Room

How Bad Are My Symptoms?

In many cas­es, it comes down to how long you’re will­ing to wait. Con­di­tions like ear infec­tions or uri­nary tract infec­tions, or symp­toms like a heavy cough, might not always be emer­gen­cies – but they can be painful or uncom­fort­able enough that they feel like one. If that’s the case, don’t wait for an appoint­ment. You can get the com­fort and relief you need much quick­er at an imme­di­ate care center.

The impor­tance of get­ting care right away can also make a dif­fer­ence. For exam­ple, up to 80% of cat bites become infect­ed. These infec­tions can cause fever and flu-like symp­toms, and about a third of peo­ple who get treat­ment for a cat bite to the hand end up need­ing to be hos­pi­tal­ized. Infec­tions can set in with­in a few hours. While a bite isn’t nec­es­sar­i­ly cause for a trip to the emer­gency room, you should get care with­in 8 hours – so imme­di­ate care may be your best bet.

Do I Keep Hav­ing the Same Symptoms?

Symp­toms that keep com­ing back could be a sign that there’s an under­ly­ing prob­lem. Imme­di­ate care providers are great at treat­ing symp­toms and detect­ing acute ill­ness­es like the flu, but they don’t focus on diag­nos­ing chron­ic conditions.

That’s where PCPs are the experts. They will per­form more in-depth exams, order any nec­es­sary tests, and con­sid­er your med­ical his­to­ry. Since they track your health over time, they can see pat­terns that could clue them in as to what’s going on.

Are My Symp­toms Relat­ed to a Chron­ic Med­ical Condition?

Sim­i­lar­ly, PCPs are more focused on treat­ing chron­ic con­di­tions than imme­di­ate care providers. Sched­ule an appoint­ment with your PCP (or a spe­cial­ist if you already work with one) if you sus­pect that your symp­toms are relat­ed to:

• Arthri­tis
• Asth­ma
• Chron­ic or sea­son­al allergies
• Coro­nary artery disease
• Dia­betes
• High blood pressure

Do I Need a Physical?

PCPs are your go-to for annu­al phys­i­cals. It’s crit­i­cal to see your PCP every year so they can screen for med­ical con­di­tions, mon­i­tor chron­ic con­di­tions, give vac­cines, and help you reach your health goals like weight management.

How­ev­er, if your child needs a sports phys­i­cal, you can stop by an imme­di­ate care cen­ter. Sports phys­i­cals are check-ups that are required year­ly for young ath­letes in school-spon­sored ath­let­ic pro­grams. They often need to be com­plet­ed by a dead­line, so your child may not be able to wait for an appoint­ment. Just make sure that they still vis­it a PCP. The sports phys­i­cal should not take the place of a year­ly check-up, since it’s usu­al­ly con­duct­ed with a spe­cif­ic sport or activ­i­ty in mind, while annu­al phys­i­cals may be more broad.

Do I Need Lab or Imag­ing Tests?

Many imme­di­ate care cen­ters offer test­ing on-site so that you don’t need to go to anoth­er loca­tion or sched­ule an appoint­ment through your PCP’s office.

For exam­ple, they often have:

• Lab ser­vices, includ­ing blood work and urine tests
• X‑rays
• Com­put­ed tomog­ra­phy (CT) scans
• Ultra­sounds

Some imme­di­ate care cen­ters only offer lab tests dur­ing cer­tain hours, so be sure to check before you head over.

See all ser­vices offered at South Bend Clin­ic Imme­di­ate Care Centers.

Should I Go to Imme­di­ate Care or a Retail Clinic?

Retail clin­ics (clin­ics with­in stores like drug­stores or gro­cery stores) have sim­i­lar ser­vices, but they aren’t the same as imme­di­ate care cen­ters. When you have a choice, opt for an imme­di­ate care center.

Imme­di­ate care cen­ters, which are often affil­i­at­ed with health­care sys­tems, can usu­al­ly pro­vide addi­tion­al ser­vices or more advanced care. If the cen­ter is affil­i­at­ed with a sys­tem where you already receive care, providers have easy access to your records and med­ical his­to­ry. This can make it eas­i­er for a provider to pre­scribe the care that best suits your needs, espe­cial­ly if you have chron­ic con­di­tions, reg­u­lar­ly take med­ica­tion, or have allergies.

There may be times when it’s not clear where you should go for care. You can always call your PCP’s office or an imme­di­ate care cen­ter, and they can help you choose the best place to go.

Don’t let uncer­tain­ty keep you suf­fer­ing. Vis­it a South Bend Clin­ic Imme­di­ate Care Cen­ter for quick relief, or book an appoint­ment with a pri­ma­ry care provider to address under­ly­ing health concerns.